Lavender vs Clary Sage Oil: Same Esters, Different Plants

If you only read the labels, lavender and clary sage look like near neighbours. Both appear in the same blends, both are called floral and herbaceous, and both are built around the same two molecules. So how close are they, really? Closer on paper than on the nose, and the reason is a molecule that lavender does not have much of.

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The shared core

Linalool and linalyl acetate dominate both oils. For Lavandula angustifolia, the Ph. Eur. ranges are linalool about 20 to 45 percent and linalyl acetate about 25 to 47 percent, with camphor below 1.2 percent. For clary sage (Salvia sclarea), a Greek study of six samples found linalyl acetate at 21.2 to 25.7 percent and linalool at 13.6 to 24.5 percent, and classed the oil as a linalyl acetate and linalool type. Our guide to the two molecules explains what each contributes.

Where they split

The Greek clary sage samples also contained sclareol, a diterpene, at 7.6 to 11.2 percent, plus sclareol oxide and a large share of germacrene D. The same paper cites earlier reports that put linalyl acetate much higher, between 56 and 78 percent, linalool 6.5 to 24 percent and sclareol only 0.4 to 2.6 percent. In other words, clary sage varies a great deal from one source to another, more than lavender's standardised ranges suggest. Lavender's standard, by contrast, is defined by tight ester ranges and low camphor. A clary sage oil is not a lavender with a different label: it carries diterpenes and sesquiterpenes that the lavender ranges do not feature, and it is reasonable to expect that to show in the smell. We are not going to write a flavour wheel for an oil we do not sell; smell both side by side at a craft supply shop before you commit.

The other lavenders are further away

The camphor line is where our four oils separate. Lavandin has camphor at 2 to 33 percent in the literature, usually 5 to 10, and lavandin grosso 6.0 to 12.2. Spike lavender runs 8 to 16 percent camphor with 16 to 39 percent 1,8-cineole in the Ph. Eur. range. We describe the angustifolia oil as soft and gently herbaceous, lavandin as fresh and herbaceous with a camphor-tinged lift, and spike as sharp and camphoraceous. So when people ask which lavender is closest to clary sage, the chemistry points to the one with the least camphor, the angustifolia oil. Published figures describe lavender oil in general, not the specific bottles we sell.

Choosing between them

You want a clean floral base that blends with almost anything: lavender, and our pairing guide covers what goes with it.
You want something fuller and more herbaceous alongside lavender: clary sage is a natural partner, which is why the two appear together in our 4:2:1 blend maths.
You want one oil to do both jobs: neither can substitute for the other one-for-one, so start with a 3:1 mix and adjust by smell.

We sell lavender-family oils only. Clary sage comes from a craft or supply shop, and any bottle you buy should carry the Latin name, Salvia sclarea, since "sage" on its own can mean other species.

Strength and care

Both are used diluted. We recommend 0.5 to 2 percent for lavender in a carrier with a patch test first; we start at 0.5 to 1 percent, and a clary sage supplier will give its own figure. Because both rely on linalool and linalyl acetate, both are subject to the same oxidation question described in our storage guide, and neither is a substitute for medical care. If you are pregnant, nursing or managing a condition, ask your physician before using either oil.

Two oils that share a backbone are best judged by the part that differs, and in this pair that is sclareol versus camphor.